


Shadow of Death

by queenenvy



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: During Canon, Eventual Smut, F/M, TWD season 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:53:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22598137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenenvy/pseuds/queenenvy
Summary: Emma never intended to survive this long, but yet, here she was. Now she wasn't the only one depending on herself to make it anymore, how much can death truly change someone?
Relationships: luke (the walking dead) x original female character
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue

The blue of the butterfly’s wings was blatantly apparent against the rest of the broken and worn-down land. The forest was colored with brown and red leaves but those brown and red leaves were starting to die and mulch into the soil as winter approached. It left the wood looking more barren than ever. Soft, brown-colored eyes watched the butterfly silently, admiring its beauty and resilience against the death going on around them. A slight shift from Christa and the scraping of gravel beneath her boot sent the creature fluttering off into the sky again. Emma’s head turned upwards, watching as it left with slight awe. Her pink lips barely parted, taking the crisp, autumn air into her lungs. She blinked softly, scanning her eyes across the parking lot ground in front of them before glancing behind her towards where Clementine stood back, waiting for their go-ahead that it was safe. Her hands were pressed in front of her, clutching at the little white skirt she wore that was getting a bit small for her. Emma felt a sense of sudden nostalgia; it was hard to believe she was already ten. It seemed like only a few weeks ago that she was watching her draw leaf shadings in the parking lot of the motor inn. A sudden sadness fell over her after the realization of how long ago that truly was. Luckily, the conversation beside her distracted her before she could get too far into her thoughts.

“Omid, you can’t be serious.” Christa pressed the man beside her, sending a little look towards him from the corner of her eye before looking back ahead to what used to be a bathroom for the camping site they were traveling through. They had stopped to carefully watch the area before entering, ensuring no one else decided to hole up in there before going ahead in. Emma was always terrible at judgment things like that, so she took the backseat and left most of the true survival up to Christa and Omid.

“I am!” He replied back to her eventually as Christa stood up beside him and stepped over the log they were crouched behind, seeming to elect it was safe enough. “We are not doing that,'' she scoffed to him as she walked away, Omid swift to follow after her. Emma smiled slightly in amusement at the couple’s gentle bickering, pressing herself up and calling softly behind her. 

“C’mon Clem” she offered her hand out ahead of time, hearing her little shoes swiftly scuff forward and then feeling the warmth of the smaller hand grasping hers. She stepped over the log with her carefully and then they both followed in the elder man and woman’s steps.

“C’mon Christa, what’s wrong with Omid?” He tried to press his wife eagerly, hands gripping the hunting rifle in his hands a little tighter. 

“We’re not calling our baby Omid, one of you is enough!” She said back to him, chuckling softly, glancing back at the two behind them, “girls, a little help here?” She asked and Emma chose not to comment for the moment, holding her smile as she glanced down to Clementine for input. 

The girl debated on her answer for a moment before shrugging softly and asking, “what if it’s a girl?”

“Then we call her Christa!” Omid declared cheerily to which the mother-to-be shook her head, “but I’m Christa, I don’t wanna call her Christa, that’s just confusing.”

Omid seemed excitedly impatient, pressing afterward. “Well then call her Genevieve, I don’t care.”

“How can you not care!?” Christa argued light-heartedly back, “You’re not taking this seriously.”

“Puh-lease”, Omid exaggerated the word, “I take everything seriously.” Emma looked to the girl’s bathroom door, releasing Clementine’s hand and saying to her. 

“You can go on in, I’ll keep watch out here. Make sure to keep track of your things, if you need me, I’m right here.” Clementine approached the bathroom door, voice still having that squeaky note to it that said she hadn’t completely reached her puberty yet.

“I hope the sink works in there…” Her voice had a note of false hope to it. 

Emma smiled weakly and shook her head. “I wouldn’t count on it, but maybe.” Clementine pushed the door easily enough and disappeared inside, leaving Emma to lean against the wall directly beside the girl’s bathroom door. 

“Hey Emma, you think we can talk for a second?” Christa said before fully heading into the boy’s bathroom. Anxiety stirred in Emma’s stomach, but she nodded to Christa nonetheless and followed after her, she couldn’t help but wonder if she had done something wrong. She tried not to step on the other two adult’s toes but it was fairly hard considering she was with them constantly. It always got tiresome and too crowded after being stuck with other people for so long. Especially when they didn’t have the luxury of being somewhere where they could get some distance from one another. Surprisingly, however, they all managed to stay on one another’s good sides well enough and avoid serious conflict.

Walking into the bathroom with one another, Emma caught sight of her reflection in the cracked and dirty mirror. One of her hands rose self-consciously to push a lock of her blonde hair back behind her ear. "You should cut your hair" Christa spoke, distracting Emma and causing her eyes to move over to her. The younger furrowed her brow in confusion as Christa shrugged her shoulders, "or tie it back at least. You're on top of Clem's hair like her personal barber but you don't even take of your own."

Emma reached a hand up to rub at her arm, cheeks flushing slightly in color as she was called out. "Clem's hair grows way faster than mine. Besides, it hasn't caused problems yet..." she stared at herself in the mirror once again. She could almost hear Lee's voice nagging that she should cut her hair as well. She knew that Christa was right but Emma still couldn't bring herself to actually cut the long, blonde locks she had grown out. Her mother had always begged her to never cut her hair every time Emma considered it, told her she looked like an angel with all those blonde curls. Emma used to scoff at it, there wasn't even a single hint of a wave in her hair so where her mother saw these 'blonde curls' she spoke so fondly of was beyond her.

"At least tie it up or something then", Christa chuckled as she let her bag slump off her shoulders, "you're tempting fate too much."

Emma let a smile tug at the corners of her mouth before it faded again as her brown eyes turned away from the mirror finally. "That's not the only thing you wanted to talk about, right?"

Christa was looking at her own reflection in the mirrors now, wiping at some of the smudges of dirt on her face. "Look, I know you don't wanna give Clem a gun but--"

"No", Emma stated firmly, shaking her head, "I'm not letting her carry a gun around, she's ten!"

"I know that, Em." Christa aggravatedly snapped back at the younger girl, "but you're not always gonna be there to protect her, she needs a way to defend herself. I hate it too but you can't treat her like a kid anymore, this isn't the world for it." She turned away from the mirror fully look at the shorter woman, narrowing her deep green eyes at her. "One day, she is gonna be on her own, whether we like it or not. Either she is gonna be strong, know how to take care of herself and make it, or she isn't gonna know and she won't. It's that simple."

Emma bit her bottom lip as she was scolded, letting her eyes move down to her dirty, worn boots. She knew Lee had taught Clementine how to use a gun, it wasn't an issue for the little girl and yet Emma still refused to give her a weapon. She felt like if she gave in, she'd be ripping away that last little bit of innocence that Clem held and she couldn't bear to do that to her. Apocalypse or not, she was still just a little girl and it was hard for people to remember that she felt. "Don't be too hard on her, Chris" Omid walked out from one of the stalls, affectionately squeezing his wife's side and kissing her cheek. Christa's glare didn't lift as she peeked over at Omid now from the corner of her eyes. The man placed his rifle down against one of the stalls and gave Emma a playful punch to the shoulder. "She's just cranky, you know, all those pregnancy hormones."

"I will make you sleep in the rain tonight" Christa snapped at him suddenly before walking towards one of the bathroom stalls. Omid chuckled at her, waiting till the door was closed before looking to Emma and adding on in a quieter voice, "she is--kind of right. Maybe think about giving her a knife or something to start with."

Emma clenched her jaw as Omid said this, but, let an exasperated breath slide from her nostrils as she nodded, "I'll--think about it."

Omid seemed satisfied with this and dropped the subject, he had always been far less pushy than Christa and Emma appreciated that about him. "I'm gonna go check on Clem." He announced, strolling out of the bathroom without a worry and leaving Emma to stare after him for a moment. She turned to face the mirror again and reached into her pocket to pull out the broken hair tie she had been carrying around. It was a pain to use because it would often come untied as well as just be generally uncomfortable but it would stop Christa from worrying about Emma's hair. She slowly wrapped the black band around her locks to the best of her ability, eyebrows furrowing down in concentration as she struggled to tie it tightly around her hair and form it into a ponytail. It was definitely messy and she couldn't see how well she had tied the band but it'd have to do for now.

The squeaking of the stall door behind her came, Christa only getting one foot out the door before the gunshot suddenly rang out. Both women jumped and their heads snapped over to the door. Christa seemed to get her bearings before Emma as she snatched the rifle off the ground and charged out the door with a speed Emma had only seen her use a few times while pregnant. Emma scrambled after Christa, leaving the bags behind as only Clementine was on her mind.

She burst in through the door behind Christa into the other bathroom and immediately her hand clapped over her mouth at what she saw. Clementine seemed completely unharmed, thank god, but there was an unknown girl present as well. She seemed to be a teenager, hand shaking as it held a glock that had obviously just been used. Omid lay on the ground, blood pool around him and seeping out from the bullet wound in his chest. He gasped and clutched at the hole, staring up at Christa now in shock before he suddenly became still. His eyes gained a glassy film and he went stiff against the cold, tiled floor. Emma watched the way the blood seeped in between each green tile, like it was forming some sort of sadistic connect the dots picture.

"I--", the teenager choked out, "I didn't mean to--"

Emma jumped again as the rifle went off suddenly, Christa's body jerking slightly as she fired it and it sunk through the girl's head. Blood and brain matter splattered across the sink, mirrors and Clementine's jacket behind them. The body fell against the sinks initially before slumping off of it and slamming into the ground. Snapping out of her daze, Emma's brown eyes moved to Clementine, rushing past the two corpses on the floor to stand right in front of Clem. She crouched instinctively, cupping the girl's round cheeks as she looked over her for signs of any injury.

"Omid?" Christa's broken voice echoed out through the bathroom and both girls looked to her as she now crawled to Omid on hands and knees. "Omid, can you hear me?" She questioned again, his name choking off into a sob as she pulled his body into her lap, smearing herself with his blood. Her bottom lip trembled before it pulled back to reveal her teeth in a sorrowful grimace. The broken, gasping sounds wracked through Christa's body as she hugged Omid as tightly to her as possible, his arm propped against her swollen stomach. Her hand clutched his cheek, smearing his own blood across it as she seemed to try to will him back to life by squeezing him in her arms.

Emma felt tears trailing down her cheeks, Clementine trembling and whimpering as she pressed herself into Emma. She wrapped her arms around Emma's neck, staring at the scene in disbelief and fear. The bathroom was silent other than Christa's choked cries echoing off the walls, Emma's dry, cracked lips parted like she wanted to say something but no sounds came and she could do nothing but look on at the corpse of an almost father.


	2. All The Remains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One year & four months after Omid's death

With the rain that currently fell, soaking through her clothing and into the land around them, Emma wondered she was even bothering the attempt at keeping their fire lit. Smoke was rising from the nearly dead embers but unless they had more, non-wet fuel to keep it burning, the fire would be diminished in minutes. Emma looked up from the fire finally, sighing in defeat and looking over her shoulder to Christa who sat staring into nothing seemingly. "Christa, we need dry wood." She stated the words desperately to her, hoping for once she'd actually speak to her. Any words Christa spoke to them these days were either harsh criticisms to Emma about what she was doing wrong or her yelling at Clementine for making too much noise or asking too many questions. While it upset Emma to watch Christa lay into the girl, Emma had never been good at standing up to people and so the only thing she could do was take Clementine and walk a little further back from Christa.

The woman finally looked over to Emma, eyes boring into her it seemed as her own messy hair clung to her wet flesh. Christa sighed in irritation, pressing herself up and walking towards the fire. She knelt beside Emma, nearly knocking her out of the way, she probably would've had Emma not had the common sense to scoot over in time. "And where exactly do you expect us to find dry wood? It's been raining for days."

"Maybe a little closer to the trees? The leaves might've--" her potential solution was immediately shut down as Christa snarled at her. "What part of raining for days do you not get? It's ALL wet, Emma."

Immediately, Emma closed her mouth and looked back to the lowly burning embers, squeezing at her torn jeans. "It should be Clem doing this, not us." Christa shot out to her suddenly, looking behind them at the little girl who held her hands silently in her lap. Her hazel eyes moved up as Christa spoke to her only for a moment before looking off at the ground in shame. "Tending a fire, so you can cook and stay warm, it's something you have to be able to do, Clementine, otherwise..." She trailed off now after grabbing a piece of bark they'd had sitting beside the fire, throwing it in an attempt to get it to burn at least a little brighter. Emma observed Christa silently, noting how skinny she was but knowing she didn't look much better most likely. They hadn't really eaten in a few days now, going off of what they could manage to scavenge or feasibly hunt. But with them unable to build a fire, it hadn't exactly been easy to cook the kills they caught and most of the meat either ended up spoiling before cooking or they had to leave it behind.

"We should keep moving", Clementine said suddenly, "let's just forget the food. We can't stay in one spot too long." Emma always found herself surprised by how truly aware the little girl was of the world around them and how to survive in it. She admittedly was even smarter than Emma herself sometimes, Lee really had taught her better than she ever could.

"All we ever do is move and we never seem to get anywhere," Christa growled angrily in response, shaking her head as she threw the stick she had been using to push the wood and embers around to the ground. "I'm gonna look for more wood." She turned, heading off into the woods and leaving Emma to stare at her back. Closing her eyes momentarily, Emma took a moment to regain her barely existent confidence and pressed herself to her feet. She turned back to the log and the bags they had sitting there, crouching down to rummage through all three. It took her a moment of looking through each other, trying to find something to burn. There were various papers that could act as kindling, make the fire a little bigger, but nothing would last long. She balled up what loose papers she could find before pausing as she came across something in Clementine's pack. She wasn't really sure if her eyes were deceiving her or not, pulling it out from the lowly lit fabric confines. She observed the torn photograph, feeling her heart sink as she examined Lee's face. As far as she knew, he still had the other piece of the photograph with the rest of his family.

She looked up to Clementine who watched her wearily, looking between her and the photo she held. "He left on the ground...back in the pharmacy. I just-- thought he deserved a picture too." She explained to Emma, looking away from her as she toyed with the sleeve of her grey jacket. "You can burn it if you have to," Emma swore she felt her heartbreak all over again, squeezing the photo a little tighter as she took another look at it before tucking it back into the bag. She settled instead on a couple of old leaf rubbings Clementine had saved, balling up all the gathered papers and returning to the fire to place them in it. She felt triumph at the side of the flames consuming the papers swiftly, growing just a few centimeters in size. Emma snatched up the stick and began poking the burning pages around again, attempting to get the flames to catch onto some of the wood perhaps and consume it as well. When the flames latched onto one of the sticks, she felt her hope that they may have a decent fire to last the part of the night return to her.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?" The voice made both of their heads snap up, staring towards the woods now. It wasn't Christa, that much Emma knew and that alone was enough to set her on edge. Her mind immediately went to the worst, they'd lost Omid, if they lost Christa too then there went all other people Emma could depend on to help Clementine and herself. Despite Christa's seeming reluctance to even be around them anymore, she was still vital to their group.

"Stay here!" Emma quickly said to Clementine, fast walking back to the bags and pulling out the 9MM that was stored in hers. She grabbed the magazine that had been taken out of it to ensure the gun didn't go off at some point and end up leaving one of them shot.

"Emma!" Clementine called to her, obvious concern in her voice.

"I promise, I'll be right back, just stay put" Emma stated once again before running into the trees, following the path Christa had taken. She was able to differentiate multiple voices the closer she got to the initial sound, able to make out Christa's voice among them. 

"How many of you are there?" One of the voices demanded, presumingly to Christa. Emma crouched low to the ground as she got closer, smearing mud onto the knees of her jeans. She was hidden by the trees and some of the taller bits of brush, able to see the legs of at least three men as well as Christa, backed into a tree. Crawling on her knees, Emma managed to get a good view now of the men and Christa, they were armed, one having his gun pointed at her while the other interrogated her. "Don't you fucking lie to us!" One of them snarled out, ramming the barrel of the gun into Christa's chest.

"I swear, I'm by myself" Christa ground out nervously before one of the hooded men spoke, "cut the shit, lady! You ain't got nothing on you, someone else has got to be holding it for you."

Emma slowly rose her gun, aiming directly at the one holding the gun on Christa to get him down and hopefully give her the opportunity to run. But, when a hand wrapped into her hair and forced her to drop her weapon. "Hey! I've got someone!" The man yelled out to the other members of his group as he dragged Emma by her ponytail over to the others, she grunted in pain, thrashing as she clawed at the man's arms to try and get him to release her. When the gun went off, the man holding Emma screeched in pain and immediately released her in favor of grabbing his leg, falling to the earth. Emma's eyes darted to the brush, spotting the one responsible for shooting and seeing a wide-eyed Clem there, the gun she had dropped in her hands.

Christa grabbed the fishing spear one of the men held from him and stabbed it into his gut before yelling. "Emma, Clem, run!" Taking the initiative, Emma rolled to her feet, taking only a moment to get up before grabbing Clementine's arm and darting into the woods. She heard a gun go off behind them, making her stall and glance behind her but only for a moment as she saw one of the men charging through the trees after them. "Get the fuck over here!" He screamed as Emma released Clementine, urging her gently with a hand on her back. "Go! Keep running!" She whispered to Clem who seemed hesitant to leave her protector. "Go!" Emma pleaded with her, Clementine glancing fearfully behind them towards the man that approached as Clem darted away.

Emma snatched up a limb that had snapped off from a tree off the ground, clutching it in both hands as she crouched behind one of the many small rocky outcrops. He started to run past her before she leaped up, swinging the branch as hard as she could into his face. He was slammed onto his back, groaning in pain as he grabbed at his broken, bloodied nose. Emma attempted to run after Clementine, only to have him grab her leg and send her tumbling into the mud. "Come here-- you fucking--" he grunted as they struggled on the ground, it too slippery for Emma to get a proper grip and stand. She let out the effort she used to fight him off in yells and groans as he got his footing before her. He wrapped his hands around her ankle, attempting to pull her back to the others. She snatched one of the nearby rocks off the ground, slamming it into his hand and hearing his finger crunch under the weight. "FUCK!" He screamed out in pain, releasing her. She wasted no time, able to stand now that he had dragged her off of the muddier ground and charge through the brush after Clementine. The groan of walkers could be heard nearby, presumedly drawn by the noise. Emma caught one out of the corner of her eye shambling through the trees towards her, she swerved around one of the trees to avoid it, almost running into another in the process. It snarled, hands outstretched towards her and almost grasping at her arm before she shoved both hands into its chest, sending it tumbling to the ground.

"Leave me alone!" She heard Clementine's voice, fear striking her as she ran in the direction Clem had called out from. She was able to see them through the treeline break, the man who had previously had the gun on Christa had his arms wrapped around her waist, lifting her up. "Hold--still!" He grunted out.

"Let her go!" Emma screamed as she slammed into the man, making him release Clementine as they tumbled to the ground.

"You little fucking bitches!" He yelled in outrage as he rolled, pinning her beneath him. He slammed his elbow into her face, causing her to yell out in pain as she clutched at her cheek. He attempted to hit her once again but that was before Clementine leaped onto his back, sinking her teeth into his ear. He screeched in pain, reaching around to try and yank her off, spinning wildly as Clem clung to him. Emma, regaining her bearings, looked up in time to watch the Walkers stumbling out of the woods towards them. Clementine was finally yanked off of the man, falling to the ground and kicking the man squarely in his stomach as he tried to grab her again. He stumbled, right into one of the walkers, which immediately wrapped its hands around his arms and sunk its rotting teeth into his neck. He screeched out in pain and fear, weakly pushing at the walker but it was for naught as he merely was shoved to the ground, the other two walkers shambling over and piling on him as well. Emma panted, ignoring the screaming pain in her face as she moved over to Clementine, pulling her up by her arm.

"Are you--" she didn't get the full sentence out before the sound of gunfire came from the woods, instinctively dropping to the ground with Clem. They crawled backward, towards the edge of the small cliff that tumbled off into a river that had significantly risen in level because of the rain. Clementine, however, wasn't fully aware of the edge and continued backing up, arm touching air where she expected a solid surface and yelling out in surprise as she fell right over into the water. "CLEM!" Emma screeched, grabbing for her leg, only to end up tumbling down the muddy bank herself and slamming into the water after Clementine.

Immediately, her senses were assaulted by the mix of cold, rushing water that filled her nostrils and soaked her to the bone. She managed to break the surface for only a moment before being washed under again by the pounding current. "CLEMENTINE!" She screamed every time she managed to get her head up, coughing and sputtering water out of her lungs. The current changed suddenly, slamming her violently into one of the nearby rocks. Her head connected with the stone and then; darkness.


	3. On Your Own

Her vision was blurry when her eyes began to open, faintly aware of the uncomfortable surface she was half on. Her eyes searched through the sky, her heavy breathing sounding unusual even to herself. Slowly, she sat up, hair partially smeared with mud and still dripping wet, the broken hair tie that once held it up long gone. She began cough almost immediately, sputtering from oxygen as small amounts of water were upheaved from her lungs. She clutched at her hand, gritting her teeth in pain as she felt where the rock had connected with it. Upon pulling her hand away, she was able to see still wet blood smearing her palm, guessing her hair had also managed to collect this. She looked down at the surface she had been beached on, broken down driftwood it seemed. She looked around the unfamiliar bank, glancing at the dock nearby with a sign on it announcing the camping zone that was close by. "Clem..." she breathed out, remembering how she had got here in the first place. She grits her teeth in pain due to her aching body as she pushed herself off the ground. "Clem!" She called out louder now, looking desperately for some sign of the girl. She was freezing, clothes still drenched with water, despite how long she had probably been out of it. She was shocked she didn't have hypothermia by now honestly.

Stumbling forward, she fell into the side of the dock, leaning on it as she gripped at her ribs. Her eyes traced over the ground, observing the muddy bank closely. It was mostly covered in leaf litter from the nearby tries, sticks, other washed-up litter like beer cans and snack wrappers. Her eyes froze something in particular; footprints, small ones, tiny enough to belong to an eleven-year-old. She looked up, gazing into the trees where the footprints had seemingly been making their way towards. "CLEM!" She called out louder now, paying no mind to the fact that there could potentially be Walkers around. She pushed off the dock, moving as quickly as her tired and pained body would allow her. She passed one of the signs along the way, pointing off down the paved out dirt trail she followed 'Jr Panda's Kids Camp.' She followed the direction the sign had pointed, muttering to herself, "she would've gone towards somewhere where there could be a shelter like we taught her..." Emma breathed out the words to herself, trying desperately to keep her hope alive. She'd never forgive herself if she had lost Clem, the one thing she had sworn on Lee's deathbed she'd never do. That man had sacrificed everything to keep her and that little girl safe, yet she couldn't even manage to protect her from looters. Grinding her teeth in pain, she reached down to her aching leg and clutched at it, looking down towards it. It didn't feel like it was broken but being sprained wasn't out of the equation.

If there was truly a camp nearby, they'd have to have some sort of first-aid kit, something she could wrap her leg with. The sound of crows could be heard overhead in the trees, taunting her seemingly. She turned her head to another sign on the road, warning of bears, wolves, and snakes. Fear further haunted her for Clementine's safety, knowing she could've potentially run into anything out here. Placing her palm on a log that had fallen in her way, she grunted as she attempted to hoist herself over, only to cry out in pain as she landed on her leg. Falling to the ground on her butt, she clutched at it tightly with shaking hands. Knowing that sooner or later, she'd have to inspect the damage, she slowly rolled up the leg of her torn jeans. "Shit..." Emma cursed under her breath as she stared at her bloodied leg, realizing the cause for her pain didn't come from a sprain, but a shard of scrap metal that had buried itself into her flesh. She wasn't sure how she didn't feel this earlier but assumed adrenaline was at fault somewhere. She ground her teeth together as she reached down, gripping the small corner of the metal that was sticking out. "Okay, okay..." she continuously murmured the word to comfort herself, wanting to close her eyes but forcing them to remain focused on the wound. She pulled slowly, mouth almost instantly falling open and a choked off scream starting to leave it. The shard was much larger than she anticipated and it took more than one pull to fully remove it. She threw it to the side when the deed was done, breathing heavily again as she squeezed her tearful eyes shut against the pain. Her head knocked back into the log, staring up at the sky and the formation of geese flying overhead, headed South. She shivered against the ground before looking back to her leg which now gushed blood. Getting her bearings, she used her shaky hand to rip the shredded denim of the same pant leg off from the jeans. Grunting to herself, she tied it as tight as possible around the wound, watching as the blood immediately soaked into it. It'd do for now but she would certainly need stitches and a better bandage.

She pressed her palms into the ground, standing herself up and looking down at her leg, she was able to walk still but there was a slight limp to her gait now. "Clem!" She called out once again, brown eyes searching the trees around her and further down the path.

"Emma!?" She thought her ears were deceiving her initially, standing there and staring off in the direction the voice had come. "Emma!" She knew it wasn't fake this time, rushing off towards the sound.

"Clem! Clem, where are you!?" She called out to the girl, pushing through the brush now, running as fast as she could despite her leg screaming in pain. A scream was the next sound that tore through the woods and Emma's eyes widened as she slammed forward. "CLEM!" Fear had turned her voice into a panicked yell as she fought with the woods around her to reach Clem's voice. She saw her after shoving another tree limb out of the way, crawling backward away from a Walker that shambled towards her. Emma looked around panickedly, spotting only a large rock nearby and bolting to pick it up, it was heavy for her petite arms but she managed to raise it above her head. She yelled as she brought it down onto the Walker's head, a choked snarl escaping as it fell to the ground. She brought the rock down into the back of its head again and then once more before dropping it. She panted as she leaned up, squeezing her thigh to try and soothe her leg as well as catch her breath. Her eyes darted up to Clementine who ran towards her without another thought, wrapping her arms around her waist in a hug.

Emma said nothing, only squeezed Clementine back tightly, "I thought I lost you..." Clem whimpered up to her, peering up at her with watery eyes before Emma crouched down, looking the girl over. Her eyes locked onto her bloodied and ripped sleeve, gently taking her arm and pulling the fabric up. She froze, her body becoming tense as she studied the bite marks, eyes darting up to Clem's face. "Clem..." she trailed off and the little girl swiftly shooking her head, expression turning into one of fear suddenly.

"It wasn't a Walker! It was the dog--" she turned away from Emma, pointing towards a tree stump that had at one point been intended for sitting around a fire. She narrowed her gaze, standing up to walk in the direction of the stump and groaning in slight disgust at what she saw. The dog's body had been impaled by the broken remnants of a car door window frame. She looked to the knife embedded in the skull, the body was fresh and blood still wet, obviously meaning it had just been killed. "He was hungry and--we found food. I offered him some but...he tried to take it all and I went to get it back but he bit me."

Emma could tell by the falter in her voice she was harboring guilt over the incident, Emma looked back to her, shaking her head. "It's okay, you had to, Clem" she crouched down by the body, wrapping her hand around the knife's handle and yanking it from the dog's skull. She observed it silently, it wasn't exactly a prime weapon but it'd be enough to defend them.

"Emma--", Clementine grunted softly, pain in her voice, "it's bleeding a lot." Emma stood, looking to Clementine's arm which was clutched against her chest, watching the blood that poured from the wound. From how dirty the dog, there was no telling what kind of bacteria it held and she feared Clementine may already be getting an infection. Emma moved over to her, observing the bite wound and nodding, "okay--okay, we'll be fine. We just have to--find one of the camp cabins and they might have some kind of supplies inside, something we can stitch this up with. Come on." She urged Clementine softly with a hand on her shoulder, the girl following after her as they left the clearing

*****

The soft whimpers coming from Clementine kept Emma alert, but the impending danger of any walkers trying to sneak up on them also kept her on edge. They'd been walking for at least a few hours from what Emma could wager, the sun low in the sky and turning it various shades of red and orange, long shadows cast around them from the trees.

“Emma” she eventually heard her breathe out, making Emma only briefly glance back at her before focusing on the way ahead of them again. “I don’t know-- how much longer I can walk” she rasped and finally caused Emma to stop and turn around to fully look at her. It was obvious to tell that she’d grown paler, dark circles visible beneath her eyes, an odd look on her face as she seemed to struggle to stay on her feet. Emma’s jaw clenched as she tucked the knife into her waistband and approached Clementine silently, kneeling down in front of her. She tried to be gentle as she took her arm in her hand and rolled up her still damp sleeve to see the severity of the bite. Heat poured off of the wound as soon as her hand hovered near it, blood still leaking out from it. Emma knew Clementine was losing far too much blood, she didn't need to be a doctor to know that. Worry caused her brow to crease, autumn shaded gaze flashing up to Clementine’s hazel eyes. The eleven-year-old was staring back at her as if she'd just read her mind which made Emma’s heart stop momentarily.

Some job you’re doing looking after her, Em, you were both almost killed by looters and now she might die from a dog bite because you couldn’t just keep track of a little girl.

The thought washed over her like a bag of bricks had just been tossed into her arms, Emma forced a calmer look on her face but the anxiety still swam her in eyes, which Clem picked up on. “Do you trust me?” Emma asked her, causing Clementine to appear confused at first. After processing the initial question, she nodded her head but said nothing. Emma offered her a weak smile in return and pushed herself off of her knees, “keep trusting me, Clem. Just a bit further, I’ll carry you if I have to but for now; wrap your arm around my waist and lean into me.” Clementine blinked her heavy eyes rapidly, steadily nodding to Emma as she edged closer to her and wove her non-injured arm around the taller woman’s waist tightly. Emma placed a hand on Clem’s shoulder, muttering down to her, “alright, we’ll go easy, we just need to get out of these woods.” The words sounded like they were trying to reassure herself more than Clem. She inspected the thick forest around them, a deep but shaky breath left Emma as she slowly began moving again. She tried to recall any knowledge she’d gained from TV and books about finding your way out of the woods if you were lost. Hearing another soft whimper from Clem, she glanced down at the girl, gritting her teeth and deciding that she needed to distract her. “Hey-- hey do you remember-- back at the motor inn? When you put that bug on Duck’s pillow? What kind of bug was it again?”

Clementine's breaths had grown heavier, her eyes looking up to Emma momentarily as she'd spoken. It took a moment to remember the incident she spoke of, but she answered quickly enough to reassure Emma she was still coherent. “It was a spider, a little brown one.”

A grin tugged at Emma’s face, full of worried but genuine humor. “Yeah-- a wood one. You pretended to be asleep but I saw you smiling when he started screaming.” Both girls giggled at the memory, Emma actually starting to feel hopeful at Clementine’s tinkling laughter before it started to fade. When she looked down to check on her again, she could see her eyes drooping closed, starting to slump into her more. “Clem--” The gurgling, animalistic groan had gotten her attention first, making her head whip up in the direction of the sound. As soon as her eyes met with not one but two walkers stumbling towards them, dread flared up in the pit of her stomach. “Clem-- Clem, you have to stay awake”, she quickly spoke to Clem, struggling to reach the back of her waistband and get her knife. Due to this struggle, she didn’t even notice the third Walker as it shambled right into them.

A yell of surprise left Emma, Clem falling as well but managing to back up into the tree as Emma was left underneath the reanimated corpse. It growled and tried to grasp at her, jaws snapping at her face, her arm the only thing holding it back from taking a chunk out of her throat. “Clem, go!” She tried to call out to Clementine who was still visibly dazed but obviously panicked. Emma made strained noises as she struggled to keep the walker from biting her. She felt her arm start to give out, pushing closer to her and increasing the stench of rotting flesh--

The sound of flesh and blood splattering across both her and the earth interrupted the deafening growling. The walker’s decapitated body had slumped off of her, leaving her laying on the ground, gasping for breath. As her eyes lifted, they connected with another brown gaze, a color that she strongly associated with melted chocolate. “You alright?” His voice had a rich country drawl to it that meant he was likely raised in a rural area, potentially close to here. She nodded, using her elbows to push herself up before hearing the other man that accompanied him, “I’m out of arrows! Grab the kid and let’s go!” Emma felt herself tense at him saying to grab Clementine but she didn’t have time to argue, there were too many walkers quickly closing in. With a grunt, clutching at her leg briefly, she rolled over and pushed herself off the ground, waiting for the man who had saved her to scoop up Clem. They began a quick sprint through the woods away from the slow-moving corpses, moving slower behind the two thanks to her leg. Thousands of questions rushed through Emma’s mind as she looked at the pair, trying to assess if they seemed trustworthy. If they wanted to kill them, they could’ve just left that to the walkers so that was immediately ruled out. But that didn’t rule out them wanting to do something worse. The St. Johns had said to keep their meat alive otherwise it gets tainted when you die, maybe these people knew that practice. They only slowed when they could no longer hear the growling of walkers behind them, leaving everyone trying to regain air.

“Are we safe?” The older man had asked first, looking to the younger one who had saved Emma and was now carrying Clem.

He unhurriedly nodded his head, a few strands of his mousy brown hair falling close to his eyes. “Yeah-- Yeah I think so, hey, kid, you alright?”

Emma’s attention immediately shifted back to the child under her care, “Clementine?” She spoke, her heart lurching at the thought of her having gone unconscious. But, that wasn’t the case as the girl was quick to look up towards the man carrying her and then at Emma.

She grunted as she shifted in his arms, “I can walk.”

Relief flooded Emma who placed her hand over her heart before letting it fall at her side again. The man appeared mildly amused, even offering her a little sideways smile that people only gave when they knew they were being lied to. “Oh is that so? Cause last time I saw, you could barely crawl away from that Lurker back there. Look, you’re in bad shape, kid.” His eyes switched to the woman who hovered at his side, watching over the child closely. He could tell she was her guardian in some way as she looked like she was ready to lunge if he so much as twitched his finger. "You don't look too much better, you know," he remarked to Emma who's eyes moved from Clem's face up to his. She observed him silently, his clothing and face were clean, he was well-groomed so he obviously had access to both running water and a razor. He had some stubble on his face but not enough to be considered a full-blown beard, a sharp jawline, and a well-toned body.

"I'm fine for now" she reassured finally, making it clear her first priority was Clementine.

“What are you two doing out here?” The older man asked them, making Emma’s attention shift away from Clem for the moment. She debated telling him the truth, she guessed he sensed this too. He briskly explained, “I don’t want your group thinkin’ we’re doing anything but tryna help you.”

Emma surveyed Clem’s state once more before letting a long exhale slip from her nostrils, “we had a friend with us but we got attacked. We fell into the river and ended up downstream, I woke up on the shore alone and found her like this.”

“These folks mention what they were after?” Pete inquired and Emma lifted her shoulders in a shrug of defeat before hearing Clementine interject. “They probably just wanted food, we were cooking some kind of weasel.”

The man carrying her scoffed again, “they attacked you for a weasel? Damn, that is low. They uh...they didn’t mention any names right? They weren’t searchin’ for no one?”

Emma’s brow furrowed as he asked this very particular question, causing her gaze to divert over to him. “Didn't hear them say anything like that, why do you ask?”

The man cleared his throat and quickly shook his head, “no reason, you know, just curious.” Emma could tell immediately that he was hiding something which made her anxious all over again. Clementine wouldn’t last without medical treatment though and if there was a chance that these two could provide that, then she couldn’t pass it up. All they needed from them was some stitching, bandages, and antibiotics, then they could be on their way.

“Well”, the younger man began again, “I’m Luke and this is Pete.” The older man nodded back at them, offering a smile to Clementine. Emma for some reason felt more comfortable upon them introducing themselves, how bad could they really be? They were nice enough thus far, but the St. Johns had been nice too, so had the cancer survivor group and so had Lilly. Emma’s throat tightened at the rush of memories that accompanied these people, briefly clutching her bottom lip in her teeth. Quickly deciding to just give up on debating things for the moment, she welcomed the distraction of introducing themselves.

“I’m Emma, this is Clementine. Thank you for the help back there, we’d probably be walker food by now if you hadn’t come along.”

Pete dipped his head to her quickly, showing it was no trouble before Luke began speaking again. “No problem and it’s nice to meet you two. For now, we’re going to take you back to our group, alright? Ok, we got a doctor with us and you look like you could use some-- OH SHIT.” The next thing Emma knew, Clementine was being thrown on the ground and Emma was jumping back fearfully. Clementine let out a yell of pain as she hit the rough, dirt path, drawing Emma over to her side.

“What!? What is it!?”, Pete cried out and was at Luke’s side in an instant.

“She--” Luke began, shaking his head and putting his palms on either side of his forehead. “She’s been bitten man, fuck, fuck, fuck-- what are we--”

“What!?” Emma exclaimed, gazing towards Clementine and immediately zeroing in on her arm. “No-- no, it’s not-- It’s a dog bite! She wasn’t bit!” Emma leaped to the younger girl’s defense as soon as the situation became clear.

Luke’s gaze narrowed at her, referencing down to the bite on her arm. “A fucking dog!? Really!?”

“Yes!” Emma stressed back, one of her hands resting protectively on Clementine’s shoulder and pulling her close like she intended to shield her from them. “I saw the body, it attacked her and she had to kill it! It’s infected, that’s why she can barely walk.”

“Oh, come on, we just saw you with those lurkers back there! There wasn’t no damn dog.” Luke was obviously panicking, pacing back and forth in front of a much calmer Pete. Emma’s eyes followed every move he made, more specifically watching his hands to see if he’d try to reach for the machete on his back.

“If you don’t believe me then look at it yourself! It wasn’t a walker!” Emma ground out through gritted teeth, fierce protectiveness burning inside her gaze as she glared up at the two men.

Clementine shifted against her torso, managing to weakly growl out, “she’s telling the truth, it was a dog, it wanted-- food.”

“Oh yeah, look at it! And have you sink your teeth into Pete’s neck!” Luke scoffed at them, gaining the old man’s attention and making him glare at the younger. “Why the hell am I the one?”

Luke’s head whipped over towards him, stuttering at first as he tried to defend himself, “Cause I don’t know a damn-- dog bite from a mosquito bite from a lurker bite, man!”

A deep, rumbling sigh left Pete’s mouth, shaking his head and wearily watching Clementine, “alright, let’s see it then.” 

Luke’s head snapped to Pete, becoming more alert than he was a few seconds ago “whoa, hey, watch yourself, man.”

Emma watched nervously as Pete approached them and then crouched down. He gently grasped Clementine’s injured arm in one hand then rolled back her sleeve with the other. He examined the bite marks for a good while, squinting to try and peer closer at it. His eyes traced the depth of the wound and more importantly the shape of the teeth marks.

“Is it-- is it like she says?” Luke asked Pete, trying to look over his shoulder seemingly as if he might be able to see the bite from this distance.

“Hard to tell, really, what with lurker’s teeth being ragged from rotting and whatnot.” He responded, looking at the bite a little longer before looking up at Emma and asking. “So this uh-- dog of yours, you said you saw the body?”

Emma nodded a little more frantically than intended, “it-- it attacked her because it wanted some food she had found. It bit her and so she pushed it off of her and it-- fell into this car window, impaled itself. She had just killed it when I found her."

“Clementine” Pete spoke again, looking to the girl but his stare had changed in intensity. “You telling us the truth?” He questioned her once and for all.

“Yes,” she answered firmly, trying to give him the same stare he was giving her.

After the two continued to exchange hard stares for another few minutes longer, Pete began to nod. He looked up to Emma and said, “that’s good enough for me.”

Luke, however, seemed far less convinced as he scoffed. “Well, what was she supposed to say, man?”

Pete pushed himself off the ground, turning to face the young man so he could speak to him while Emma helped Clementine up. The young girl returned to leaning into her side again, Emma placing an arm around her shoulders once more to help balance her. “I’ve got a good bullshit detector, Luke”, Pete began, “that’s why you can never beat me at poker.”

“You don’t always-- all right, how can you be sure?” Luke pressed instead, giving up on his previous statement. It would've amused Emma had the situation not been as dire as it currently was.

“Well I’m sure of one thing”, Pete replied and nodded back to Emma and Clementine. “I’m not leaving a woman or her little girl in the woods to die when we’ve got a doctor with us that can make a call. We can have Carlos take a look at it first.”

Luke seemed reluctant still, shaking his head as he looked at the two but the muttered, “Nick ain’t gonna like this.” With those being his final words on the subject, he pressed ahead.

After some thirty more minutes of walking, Emma was finally able to see a break in the trees. There was a sizable log cabin nestled in a clearing, smoke floating up from the chimney. Around the back was a barbed wire fence, blocking off anything from getting in through the forest. In the very corner of the fence, near the back of the house, Emma could see a shed peaking around the corner. “She doing alright?” Pete’s voice broke her thought process, making her eyes dart down to Clementine now and tensing as she saw the look on the girl's face. Her eyes had glossed over, eyelids drooping again and her face paler than it had ever been up to this point.

“Clem?” She questioned, trying to get her attention as the young girl blinked slowly once again before slurring out.

“I’m..fine…” those were her last words before she started to topple over. She would have smacked into the ground after fainting had Emma not swiftly caught her.

“Clem!? CLEM!?” Her voice became frantic, trying to shake the girl awake again, hearing Luke curse behind her as he darted over to them.

“Oh shit-- is she breathin’?” He questioned her as she swiftly placed her ear to her chest. She could still hear her heartbeat though it had slowed considerably, without another word, Emma scooped her up into her arms. “We need to get her to your people’s doctor. Now.”


	4. In The Dark

As Emma was led down the hill, Luke ran ahead and yelled out. “Carlos! Carlos, get out here!”

Emma was considerably slower than Pete and Luke considering she was carrying Clementine. When she rounded the corner of the house, she was already able to see a somewhat older man stepping off the porch. This man was also well-groomed, confirming her suspicions that they had access to running water of some sort. His wavy black, grey streaked hair was brushed and smoothed back, his eyes flying to Emma as soon as he noticed her. His bronze-colored skin had little wrinkles here and there, signifying his older age to Emma.

“Luke, we can’t just take care of people like this” Emma came close enough to hear him say this to Luke, the thick Cuban accent being the first thing she picked out about his dialect. Brief flashes of her old English professor who had a similar accent coming to mind.

“You don’t think I know that?” Luke argued back, waving a hand in Emma’s direction, “Can you at least take a look at her? Figure out if it’s actually a dog bite like she’s saying?”

The man, Carlos as she now knew him, gave a heavy sigh, shaking his head to show his disapproval of this situation as he walked towards Emma. It was about this time that the sound of more voices and then slamming of the front door made her and Luke lookup. “Shit--” Luke muttered as soon as he saw the rest of his group starting to head outside. “This ain’t gon’ be good…” he grumbled to himself, pressing himself forward to meet the others before they could get any closer. Emma already heard them beginning to ask questions and talk amongst themselves, from the look that a man about Luke’s age was giving her, she could tell he wasn't exactly pleased about her presence.

“How long has she been like this?” Carlos asked her, making her snap her attention back to the man.

She stuttered, trying to think of an answer to his question, “uh-- she just passed out, it couldn’t have been more than two or three minutes ago. I just found her with the bite but I saw the body of the dog, she wasn’t lying.”

The man didn’t seem all too convinced by her but still nodded, taking her words into account as he rolled her sleeve back and looked at the bite. His brow furrowed as he took in the state of it, pressing his thumb somewhat close to the wound and watching the blood that oozed from it.

Shaking his head, “whatever it was, it got her good."

A soft groan distracted them, Emma’s head shooting downwards to now see that Clementine was waking up. “Clem, hey-- are you ok?”

She blinked slowly, looking around them at the unfamiliar area and then, more importantly, the unfamiliar man touching her arm. “Yeah-- I think so, my head hurts.”

“What the hell are we doing even discussing this, man, this isn’t how we do things! I’m not going through this again!” The voice of one of the members the group had gotten louder and closer. Emma’s jerking up to see as he approached them in an increasingly hostile manner, making Emma tense and prepare herself for a fight. But, Luke quickly charged after him and then swerved in front of him before he could reach the two girls.

“Whoa, whoa--” he began, but the other man was quick to interrupt him.

“When you’re bit, you get put down, end of story.”

“No one is suggestin’ that, Nick” Luke tried to argue, the other members of their group following after him.

Emma was now able to hear Pete’s input as she set Clementine on her feet. “We could take her arm off, it worked for a cousin of mine down in Ainsworth. We could try that if worst comes to worst.”

“Hey!” Emma snapped, anger obvious in her voice now as they spoke like the both of them weren’t even there. “She’s my responsibility, alright? All we need is to get her arm cleaned and patched up, then we’ll go.”

Carlos shook his head after he finished looking at her, turning his gaze back up to Emma and saying. “I’m sorry but I’m not wasting supplies on a potential Lurker bite. The only option is to wait, by morning, if the fever has set in then we’ll know she’s going to turn.”

“Are you kidding me!?” Emma pressed them, but the others remained silent and she knew that meant they were agreeing with that idea. “It won’t matter if she turns or not, she’s going to be dead either way if you don’t help us right now!” Despite these protests, none of the others responded to her, causing her to clench her jaw. As it became more apparent that they weren’t going to be willing to help, Emma knew she had to take matters into her own hands. Luke, however after watching Clementine and Emma for a few moments longer began to sympathize with them. Clementine was in bad shape and that much was obvious, granted she seemed to be standing on her own now, she was still pale.

“The girl’s in bad shape, Carlos” he eventually, said, hoping to maybe reason with the man to at least help her remain stable throughout the night.

But it became evident that he wasn’t even willing to do that much, shaking his head as he grumbled. “If it turns out you’re telling the truth, I’ll clean and stitch it up in the morning.” With those last words on the subject, he turned away from them and walked back towards the house. Emma shook her head, looking down towards Clementine who looked just as angry over the fact that they refused to help as she did. Luke rose a hand to rub at his forehead, slowly walking towards the two and muttering an apology, “I’m sorry but it’s the best you’re gonna get. C’mon, I’ll show you to the shed.”

Emma, while saying nothing for the moment, had already formed the start of a plan in her head. She took a glance past the others and saw the front porch, in particular eyeing a piece of plywood that was more than likely covering a hole, from what she could see, the wood was held in place by a few rusty nails that weren’t fully hammered in. Her attention snapped off of the wood as Luke began to walk ahead of them, leading them towards the shed. Clementine was following directly behind him but because of Emma’s slow start, she lagged a short way behind. Before fully getting out of their range, she could hear the woman of the group talking behind them, one who was heavily pregnant it seemed. “This is just a waste of time, you’ll see and when she turns, I ain’t gonna be the one cleanin’ up the shed.”

They walked in silence most of the way, the shed having just come into view for them when Clementine said her first words. “It was a dog, you’ll see” she directed this sentence somewhat begrudgingly at Luke.

He sighing somewhat as he said, “guess we’ll find out in the mornin’.”

Clementine huffed, “if I last that long, maybe you could go look for it?”

“I wish I could”, Luke said back, glancing over his shoulder at Emma, “I really and truly do but it’s too risky, I’m sorry.”

They finally made it to the shed, Luke first pulling up the wooden bar keeping it shut and then opening the doors for them. It was an old thing obviously and it was pretty clear the group didn’t use it for much. Emma assumed that the camp probably just used it for extra storage space for tools and such. A couple of fishing rods were in the corner and a workbench with a vice was on top of that. Thunder rumbled overhead and Emma could feel rain starting to sprinkle on them but both girls were still hesitant to go inside. The first one to move inside was Clementine, she carefully stepping into the shed and looking around. Emma watched her for a moment longer before accepting their current situation and walking in after her. Emma turned back to glare at Luke, he giving a last apologetic look and then shutting the doors on them. As if by fate, thunder cracked overhead and they could hear the rain start to tap against the metal roofing, it would’ve been soothing if she wasn’t distracted by their situation.

“I can’t believe this…” Clementine muttered, whimpering in pain as she clutched at her arm. Emma looked back at her as she slid down against on wall, seemingly making herself comfortable. After the elder of the two took a more thorough look around the shed, she already spotted the tools she’d need to get to help Clementine.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan” Emma stated as her eyes locked on a hammer lying atop a shelf that was just out of her reach. She began searching for something to stand on and reach it but the only obvious thing was a folding table. Emma wasn’t sure how well it would support her weight but it was either this or nothing, approaching it, she pulled it out from the wall. Clementine was already staring at her, trying to figure out what she was hoping to accomplish as she carefully climbed onto it. Emma made sure she was steady before reaching up to the shelf and stretching her arm towards the hammer. She strained slightly with the effort it was taking, fingers just barely brushing the side of the handle and pulling it a little closer to her. With that small movement, she was able to grasp the hammer fully and thus carefully climbed back down from the folding table.

“Emma what’re you--” Clementine began as she started looking around the shed once more.

“You need stitches, antibiotics, and something to clean the bite. Luke and Pete said the doctor with them had all of those supplies, if I can get in there and get them then we can patch you up and leave.” She spotted her way out of the shed, a bait and tackle box sat directly in front of a hole, poorly covered with a piece of nailed down tarp. Emma kneeled down, pulling the bait and tackle box out of her way first before tugging at the tarp. It was fairly easy to rip out of her way, opening up a hole that was large enough for her to crawl out of the shed through. Emma placed a hand against the wall, leaning down to first stick her head out and peer around. The rain wasn’t falling too heavily yet so she shouldn’t have much trouble getting through it to the house. She could see a walker in the woods but it was far enough away to not be a problem, it seemingly hadn’t even noticed her as it shuffled through the thick foliage. Emma pulled her head back inside and looked towards Clementine who was standing up now, watching her wearily. “I’ll be back soon, I swear” she clutched the hammer in her one hand tighter and prepared to push herself out of the hole.

“Wait!” Clem hissed after her and made her pause, looking back over her shoulder at her. “Be careful” the little girl breathed out, Emma finding herself feeling affectionate at the warning that she was usually giving to Clem. Nodding to her, promising through non-verbal action that she wouldn’t leave Clem alone, she pushed herself through the hole.

More thunder boomed overhead as Emma was pelted with rain, fresh mud caking her already filthy and torn clothing. Groaning softly, she was reminded of the pain in her leg and knew she'd need to take care of it before they left. She got a good look at the area first, checking where the Walker she saw earlier was at. But, despite looking thoroughly at the woods from where she was, she couldn’t see any sign of it so she assumed it had wandered off elsewhere. Clutching her hammer tighter, she couldn’t help but feel reminded of Lee momentarily, how he’d killed that Walker at the drugstore with a hammer. She mused over the conversation she’d shared with Kenny and him while trying to break into the pharmacy. That’d been three years ago and it felt like she’d only had to keep Lee from turning a few months ago. Just yesterday they had been with Christa and now they were out here, Clementine in a shed and potentially dying while she was about to steal from a group of survivors to save her. Things really did change in the blink of an eye. She was already at the front of the house by the time she back to focus on the present. It didn't take long to find the piece of plywood blocking off the hole again, turning the hammer around to start working the nails from the wood. Emma struggled with pulling them out, due to their bent positions it was fairly difficult but eventually she managed to yank both out and then slid the wood aside.

The hole itself was low to the ground but seemed large enough for her to be able to slide through. She got down on her belly, using her elbows to drag herself through the grass and mud into the hole. It was dry beneath the house mostly, thankfully, a few cobwebs hanging from the support beams. Thankfully, the floor of the cabin was up high enough for Emma to be able to at least crouch underneath it. She could hear the footsteps moving around above her, as well as what sounded like water running. She identified Carlos's voice, barely able to make out what he said, it sounded like they were about to have some kind of meeting, likely about Clementine and herself. Nick, the man that had seemed most fervently against helping Clementine seemed very unenthused about this meeting. Emma began looking up above her, hoping to find some way into the house and after crawling around beneath it for a few minutes longer, she hit a stroke of luck. There was a small trap door that she presumed was once used to actually check the area beneath the house for animals or other problems. However, a rusted padlock was preventing her from opening it, Emma swiftly assessed she could try to break it with the hammer but the noise would be too loud. Emma struggled to figure out how to muffle the sound before the thunder seemed to answer her unannounced questions. Waiting patiently, hammer raised in preparation, thunder cracked loudly once again and lightning lit up Emma’s surroundings. She slammed the hammer onto the padlock, breaking it open in the swift movement and causing it to fall into the dirt beneath her. Emma let out a gentle exhale of relief, slowly raising her hand and flattening it against the bottom of the trap door. She paused to listen for any more footsteps or voices and then proceeded to carefully lift up the door.

It took a bit for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, blinking and widening her eyes as if that might make seeing easier. She could see a crack allowing light to flood in underneath what she assumed was a door, from the size of the space, she could presume she was inside a closet of some form. Pushing herself up slowly, she kept the trap door open after crawling out fully, in the chance that perhaps it closed and she wouldn’t be able to open it again. Hearing soft voices coming from the other side of the door, she made sure to stay as silent as possible while listening. It sounded like Pete and the doctor from what she could make out of the voices. “I’ve already made my decision” the doctor responded to something Pete had said.

“Well, I guess Luke’s got more to say on the matter, where’s Sarah?” He questioned him after.

Emma seeing the shadows of their feet as they walked past the closet. “She’s upstairs with her book, she doesn’t need to be apart of this.”

Clutching the hammer tighter at her side, she waited until she heard another door close before carefully opening the closet door and peeking out. She could see a lit furnace from this angle and the curtained windows, pushing the door open a little wider, she was now able to tell this was the living room. Assuming it was safe as all the voices she was hearing came from a door on the far side of the room, she crept out of the closet. Various lit candles were placed around the room, making it obvious they had running water but no electricity. Emma’s eyes darted to the stairs, creeping anxiously across the wooden floor, she was thankful that the floorboards were mostly silent. Making it up to the actual steps, she found they were slightly noisier but not so much so as to where they’d alert the people in the kitchen. Once making it fully up the stairs, she glanced either way down the hall, trying to find the correct path to take. She chose the right due to the fact that it only had two doors and it didn’t lead over the area where the others were gathered. Picking the only door on the right wall, she slowly began to push it open but then froze upon hearing a gasp inside.

Emma felt her heart leap into her throat when she was met with the gaze of a girl that couldn’t have been but a few years older than Clementine. The girl initially appeared frightened but then calmed to a more anxious look, squinting at Emma through the darkness. Pressing her finger up to her lips, Emma whispered out a hurried ‘shhh’ and begged with a pleading look that the girl wouldn’t call for her group. The girl obeyed Emma’s wishes, but she did press herself up and whisper near silently, “you’re not supposed to be in here.”

Emma hesitated, debating on just shutting the door and backing away but then worried that the girl might tell the others what she was doing in here. Carefully sliding into the room, she shut the door behind her and moved forward. “Hi”, she began softly, using her best soft-spoken and non-anxious voice, “do you think you can help me?”

“I’m not supposed to talk to you”, the girl quickly said back, pushing her glasses back up her nose and rubbing at her arm, “my dad can’t know.”

Emma nodded her head understandingly, glancing behind her unsurely as if worried someone else would burst in suddenly. “Of course, I promise I won’t tell him anything but I really need your help. I have a little girl with me, a little younger than you. She’s very hurt and if I don’t get her help, she could die. Do you understand?” The young girl remained silent but looked down towards her feet as if contemplating her words, giving Emma some hope. “I need something to clean up a dog bite with, something for bandages and something for sewing, it’s really deep.”

The girl remained silent for a few more moments before she hesitantly began speaking. “My dad says we’re out of real bandages but I know where to get stuff for cleaning! It’s with his supplies. I think we might have a needle in the bathroom...but I don’t know if we have any thread.” She went silent once more, seeming to be thinking over something more before finally pushing off the bed and standing up. “I’ll help you.”

Emma relievedly smiled and whispered to her, “thank you.”

“I’m Sarah” she introduced herself with a broad smile, staring up at the older woman and then suddenly asking her. “I can be friends with your little girl right? I haven’t met another girl my age since way before.”

“She’s not--” Emma began, but wasn’t entirely sure what to say to finish the sentence. Deciding on leaving it for the moment, she gave the simpler answer. “Maybe, once she’s better you two can probably meet if your group lets us stay.”

Sarah’s eyes brightened, reminding Emma of when she used to tell Clementine she had found more chalk and crayons for her at the Motor Inn. “Let me look around, I’ll see if I can find what my dad uses when I get a cut.” She whispered back to her before turning and beginning to walk towards the bed and nightstands that Emma presumed belonged to her father. She was now able to make the connection that this was the doctor, Carlos’s daughter. She crouched down, pulling open the bottom drawer of her father’s nightstand and pushing items around in it. Emma couldn’t help staring towards the door every so often, trying to make sure the meeting going on downstairs wouldn’t abruptly conclude. “I think this is it!” Sarah said again, pulling out a tall, opaque, brown bottle, she closed the drawer again before walking over to Emma with the bottle.

She carefully took it from her, reading the label; ‘hydrogen peroxide’ “yes! This will work great, thank you, Sarah.”

“You promise not to tell my dad-- right?” Sarah asked, looking up nervously towards Emma who offered a sincere smile and nodded, offering her hand to the girl with her pinkie out.

“Pinkie promise, can’t break it.” Sarah’s eyes lit up once again, immediately hooking her pinkie around Emma’s. With that, Emma let her hand fall again, tucking the peroxide into her large jacket pocket and then turning back to the door, slipping out of the bedroom again.

Glancing to the stairs, she heard the muffled voices still downstairs and assumed no one came back up yet. Turning her head to the door in front of her, she peeked inside and the shower immediately clued her into it being the bathroom. Stepping inside hurriedly, she shut the door as softly as possible behind her and first opened the little sliding door closet. Picking through it, she could only really see towels and sheets. Considering using one of them for bandages, she decided against it ultimately as it’d take too long and be too noisy to tear. Turning behind her now to the medicine cabinet, she nearly sighed in relief as she found the needle Sarah spoke of. It was buried into a little pumpkin-shaped pin push and when she pulled it out, she could tell it was sterile. Shutting the medicine cabinet again, she moved to the door, gripping the knob and pulling it open just in time to see the pregnant woman leaving what she presumed was her room.

Luckily for Emma, the woman hadn’t seen her due to her struggle with putting on a sweater. She hastily shut the door once again, hearing the woman mumble to herself as she walked down the hall, approaching the bathroom. Emma looked around, trying to think of a place to hide before settling with the shower, she parted the curtains and climbed into the tub as silently as she could, laying down flat on the bottom and curling herself up into a ball. Upon hearing the bathroom door open, her heart pounded against her ribcage, one hand moving to cover her mouth and nose to hopefully muffle her breathing.

“Dammit…” the woman cursed softly, Emma able to hear as she shuffled around the bathroom before it sounded like she had turned on the sink water. “I just need to have this baby and...oh god” she murmured softly, making Emma’s brow furrow deeply. The sounds of water splashing told her that she was either just washing her face or hands. Every second that passed was another anxious moment of potentially being discovered. But something told Emma that this woman wasn’t very concerned with her surroundings at the moment. “Let it be ok...", she pleaded to some unseen force, "let it be his." Emma heard as the woman shuffled around, faintly seeing the shadow she cast on the shower curtain. The bathroom door creaked open and closed once more, leaving the room in silence once again. Emma took a moment before she actually actually sat up, carefully opening the curtain and peeking through in case the woman hadn't left the hall yet. Upon hearing footsteps and seeing feet moving from in front of the door, she slowly and quietly climbed out of the tub. She cracked the door just in time to catch the woman walking downstairs to presumedly join the others. With that, Emma decided then and there that she needed to hurry up what she was doing, shoving the needle into her pocket, she slipped out of the bathroom and headed towards the other doors.

She moved slower and quieter over this area of the house as she knew she was directly above where the others were now. The first room she went into, she could tell soon enough that it must’ve been the pregnant woman and her husband’s. A list of girl and boy names lay on the desk, but directly beside it, a roll of floral cloth laid. Upon picking it up, Emma realized it must’ve been torn off a shirt or some other article of clothing, they probably intended to sew it back on. “Not exactly bandages..." she muttered to herself and tucked it into her jeans pocket with the needle. She idly glanced at the painting above the desk the cloth had been resting on and as soon as the painting registered in her mind, she stopped dead in her tracks. A sudden feeling of sadness overcoming her the longer she looked at the picture. It was just a simple picture of a duck, sitting on a lake, staring at something off in the distance. Yet, it brought her a deep sense of nostalgia, remembrance of a simpler time. Those days back at the Motor Inn may not have seemed like much to anyone else but before the St. Johns, everything was peaceful. Lilly and Kenny fought occasionally but other than that, everyone got along and helped one another. Duck would run up to Emma, excited to show her his new drawing. Katjaa and she would go through the medical supplies and food, rationing everything out. They’d sit around a fire at night sometimes and everyone would share funny stories about life before. Kenny’s story mostly consisted of things Duck had done has a baby, Lilly would talk about her days at the air force base, Lee would mention dumb things students of his had said before. It wasn’t an easy time but it was a good time, most important to her; everyone was alive then.

Blinking tears back, she looked away from the picture and inhaled deeply. Approaching the door, she opened it carefully, wincing at the light creak it let out. Emma's eyes were focused on the stairs, ensuring she wouldn’t be surprised by anyone else. After she established the answer to that question as a no, she somewhat rushed back down the stairs. Just as she got to the closet, she heard the door that the rest of the group was in start to open, voices drifting out from the kitchen. She fled into the closet as swiftly as possible, shutting the door a bit louder than intended behind her, she didn’t waste time to try and figure out if they had heard her. Emma was lowering herself back through the door beneath the house and then shutting it behind her, making sure it didn't slam by lowering it carefully with her hand. When she was safely outside once again, she made a mad sprint for the shed, the rain pouring down now.

Emma was thoroughly soaked by the time she made it back to the shed, grunting as she lowered herself to her knees. Her leg was burning now and she was sure that it was filthy due to how much mud she was covered in at this point. “Emma!” Clementine gasped out as she saw her crawling back in, getting up from her position of sitting to help pull Emma back through the hole, wincing due to the pain in her arm. “Did you get everything?” She questioned as she pulled herself into the shed, panting after the rush through the rain.

“Everything except thread” Emma stated as she pulled everything out of her pockets and placed them on the work table.

Clementine examining the items before remembering what she had done while Emma was gone, “oh! Here!” She said and then began digging in her own pockets. After fishing out what she desired, she set it down before Emma with the other supplies. Emma observed the item Clementine had offered up to her, fishing line, more than likely taken from the bait and tackle box.

She looked over to Clementine, a weak, nervous smile on her face as she gave her best attempt at humor despite her nervousness for the upcoming task. "Who needs doctors anyway?"

Clementine let out a slight chuckle that was laced with her own anxiety. Slowly, she rolled up her sleeve to show the wound and then placed her arm on the table. After staring at the bite for a moment, pain obvious on her face as the wound was now exposed, she muttered. “This is gonna suck” Emma agreed though said nothing as she placed one hand on Clem’s wrist to hold her arm still. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Clementine inquired her.

"Of course," Emma responded easily, smiling reassuringly at Clementine. It was a lie, her only experience was having to have her own injury stitched up when she was young. She'd fallen after riding her back, split open her knee and had to get four stitches in the cut. She could vaguely remember the procedure she underwent, not actually watching the stitching take place but she got the idea. She had at the very least mended holes in clothing with her mother a few times. How different could this really be from closing up a hole in a sweater? Emma fought off her thoughts and picked up the bottle of peroxide. "Got to clean it first" she explained, releasing Clementine's wrist momentarily to unscrew the cap before resuming her hold on it, pressing down a little harder. "On three, okay?" Emma stated, looking directly at Clementine, observing the terrified look on her face as she nodded. "One...two..." she dumped the bottle onto the wound, Clementine immediately squealing in pain through gritted teeth. The peroxide bubbled in the wound, turning white as it cleaned away the bacteria from the bite. "You're alright, sweetpea, you're alright" she tried to comfort Clementine the best she could while holding her arm still as it jerked in her grasp.

Clementine whimpered, squeezing the side of the table with her free hand before inhaling sharply through her nostrils. She breathed unevenly now, looking up to Emma and nodding, "okay-- I'm good, I'm fine."

Emma smiled sympathetically, directing her eyes back down, "alright. Just got to close it up now and wrap it, then you'll be okay." She released Clementine's arm in order to thread the fishing line through the eye of the needle. "You got to try to hold as still as you can, alright?" She looked Clem in the eye again, the younger girl nodding unsurely, quickly turning her head away as Emma prepared to sink the needle through her flesh. Emma also had to steel herself, brow furrowing before piercing the needle through her skin. Clementine, of course, screamed out in pain and the sounds were anything but pleasant to Emma as she had to force herself to work through it. She was sure the only reason that the others didn't hear the commotion was because of the thunder still rumbling overhead. She managed to close off the start of the bite but, it was a large cut and that was only one stitch. She continued on, Clementine naturally twitching and squirming at times but Emma's strong grip on her arm helped keep her still enough. She had to remind herself multiple times that it was either this or watching her get sicker and sicker till death. Seven stitches were the total end result used to close up the wound, Emma struggling to tie off the last part while Clem’s arm still jerked slightly.

"Okay, okay, it's over, it's over" she released Clementine's arm, immediately watching her cradle it back against her chest as she quivered with pain. "I'm so sorry" Emma breathed out, nearly in tears it seemed as she placed her hand on Clem's back to attempt and comfort her. "I just need to wrap it and we'll be okay, I promise." Emma picked up the floral printed fabric and slowly wrapped it around her arm, placing a decent amount of pressure on the wound but not so much that it’d end up hurting later.

She tied it off at the end, then finally released Clementine’s arm once and for all, the girl immediately swallowing. “We never have to do that again right?”

Emma gave a humored grin, chuckling softly, "just promise me you won't get bit by anything else and we won't." She stood up, leaving the items where they were and crouching back to the hole to peer out of it. The rain had finally stopped, leaving them a clear escape path and the walker was still nowhere in sight. "We should leave first thing in the morning", Emma said, looking back to Clem, "I'll stay up to keep watch, you should try to get--"

The snarl hit her ears before anything else but she didn't get time to react before a decayed hand was launching through the hole and wrapping around her leg. "SHIT!" Emma exclaimed in surprise, falling onto her back as she attempted to kick the Walker off of her. It snapped its jaws at her, attempting to pull itself towards her to reach her leg. She slammed her free foot into its skull, causing it to groan and release her, giving Emma time to scramble backward. Clementine snatched up a brick beneath the table, slamming it into the Walker's skull which only temporarily delayed it, it groaned in anguish, reaching out for Clementine now. It fingers caught her shirt, almost pulling her into it, had she not slammed the brick into its hand and got it to release her. Emma grabbed the hammer from the ground, "MOVE!" She warned Clementine who backed up into the wall of the shed near the door. Emma brought the hammer down onto the Walker's head with a loud yell, burying it into its fragile skull, already weakened by the blow Clem gave it with the brick. Emma ripped the hammer from the skull, breathing shaky and wiping away the blood that splattered onto her neck.

The shed doors were thrown open as Emma placed her hands on her knees, catching her breath. "Holy shit" she heard Luke's voice, finally looking up and seeing Clementine standing there defiantly in front of him. Her body was tense, hands balled into fists at her side. "Still NOT bitten!" She exclaimed at the group present, "I never was! And you left us out here to die!"

“Did you-- did you sew your arm up?” Luke questioned bewildered, eyes locked on her arm which was now bandaged properly.

“I did” Emma answered his question, moving to push Clementine slightly behind her. Her body was tense, that same threatening look in her eye that she'd had when he was holding Clem earlier that day.

Nick immediately asked afterward, “where the hell did you get that stuff?” He jabbed a finger in the direction of the supplies currently on the table.

“She stole from us” the pregnant woman snarled, eyes narrowing at the two women.

Emma felt rage building up in her, one hand squeezing the handle of the hammer tighter. She flashed her eyes around between the people present. “You didn’t give me a choice! You didn’t listen to a word we said and locked us both in a shed in the middle of the night AND the rain!”

“You coulda just left” the woman scoffed, Emma opening her mouth to argue with her again but Pete swiftly said. “Alright, alright, enough Rebecca! That doesn’t change a damn thing. They haven't done anything to us, Emma was right, we didn't give her many options.” A silence drifted between all of them now as some of the group glared the two down. As Emma’s eyes turned to Luke, she observed the expression on his face was one that was torn between guilt and admiration.

"Bring her in", Carlos interrupted the others, "I'll take a look at her arm, and your leg." He nodded to Emma's leg which had started bleeding again when the Walker grabbed it.

"But--" Nick had started to growl out before Emma shot back at him.

"What? You think I'm bit too?" Her eyes flamed with her anger and Nick seemed just as furious, lips curling back as if he was baring his teeth at her. He turned, stomach off back to the cabin while the others followed after Pete and Carlos. Luke stayed by the door as Emma allowed Clem to walk ahead of her after them.

"Hey--", Luke spoke, making Emma stop and direct her eyes over to him. “I uh-- I’m sorry”, he finally said after taking in her expression, “for doubting you and Clementine." She had half of a mind to brush him off due to the anger still stirring in the pit of her stomach. But, she understood their actions, they were scared of what might happen. He seemed like a decent enough guy, looking out for the people he cared about like she was doing. Emma gave him a slight nod before looking away and limping after the others, leg officially having had enough of her over-exertion of it and not allowing her to walk anymore.


End file.
